In 1902, Willis Carrier invented the vapor compression air conditioning system, and is still the most commonly used air conditioning technology today. This compressor-based system consumes a lot of energy and uses chemical refrigerants that harm the environment, like chlorofluorocarbon and hydrochlorofluorocarbon. Recently, in the National University of Singapore (NUS), researchers have developed a new eco-friendly, water-based air conditioning system that runs without the need of compressors and chemical refrigerants. This water-based air conditioning system uses membrane technology to remove moisture from the outside air and is cooled by using water instead of chemical refrigerants. It consumes approximately 40% less electricity than compressor-based air conditioners and can cool air to as low as 18 degrees Celsius. In addition, this new system can produce 12 to 15 liters of potable drinking water a day by releasing cool air that is less humid than air in the surrounding environment. GO GREEN… SAVE GREEN!!! KOG

Today, people are moving towards more eco-friendly solutions in many facets of their lives, including the bed that they sleep in. Organic mattresses are available for those who seek an eco-friendly solution for where they sleep. The organic mattresses available today vary on their organic substance and only some are 100% organic, but others do carry some environmentally positive qualities. Whether you are environmentally-concerned, health-conscious, or allergy-sensitive, organic mattresses may be right for you. Although, organic mattresses can be very expensive, heavy, and require research to confirm environmental certifications; they are also highly durable, environmentally-friendly, and void from the risk of inhaling harmful chemicals, as opposed to non-organic mattresses. GO GREEN, SLEEP GREEN!!!

Nowadays, more and more people are moving towards eco-friendly solutions for their household, including their restroom. There are strategies you can use that will help make your restroom greener and save some green at the same time. One way to decrease your energy usage is to replace all of your incandescent light bulbs with LED or CFL alternatives. LED’s last about 25 times longer and use about 80% less energy than incandescent. Some might think that switching to LED’s is expensive, but thanks to the consciousness and interest of our environment in society today, energy-saving lighting solutions have become more affordable. Other strategies for an eco-friendly restroom include switching to low-flow water fixtures, dual-flush toilets, and energy-efficient vent fans. Read this article to learn more about strategies that will help you give your restroom an eco-friendly face-lift. GO GREEN, SAVE GREEN!!! KOG

A Get-Started Guide to Green Home Decorating

“What’s the use of a house if you haven’t got a tolerable planet to put it on?” Henry David Thoreau posed this question more than 150 years ago, and it becomes increasingly relevant with each decade. Today, something as simple as decorating your house can have a positive effect and make our planet more “tolerable.” But helping Mother Earth doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice style. With a few tips, the right products and a few simple alterations, you can make your home a greener and more stylish place to live.Sustainable Décor ShoppingThe key to decorating conscientiously is to maintain sustainability as your primary goal. Select home features and sustainable home décor that use fewer nonrenewable resources and less energy and require less water to function. Home decor features that have been repurposed, recycled, and can withstand the test of time. For instance, old neckties can be fashioned into a quilt, or bulky cinder blocks can be transformed into chic, outdoor planters.Even the smallest changes in what you buy for accent decoration in your home can make a difference. For example, standard candles are made of paraffin, a petroleum-based product, and switching to soy-made candles, which are just as alluring, can eliminate the 11 toxins emitted by paraffin . You can further detoxify your home with the simple addition of potted plants. We suggest one potted plant for every 100 square feet of living space. Smart LightingGet rid of any traditional incandescent light bulbs you might have and opt for the more energy-efficient light-emitting diode (LED) alternative. The light produced by (LED)bulbs are softer In the bathroom, use high-efficiency shower heads to reduce your water consumption by 30 percent. Low-flow toilets offer similar water conservation results—or for a more affordable option, use the DIY method of placing a two-liter bottle of water in the tank to fill space and allow less water flow through each cycle.Efficient Window Treatments & Floors

Window treatments are a prime opportunity to express your concern for conservation while not sacrificing personal panache. With countless colors to choose from and designs to suit any style, they are stylish and keep out heat, which results in reduced use of your air conditioner. When considering your flooring, there are many eco-friendly materials available. Bamboo, sustainable wood, cork and some linoleums provide quality floor coverage. Bamboo, in particular, offers an elegant and earthy appearance in addition to serving its function. If you would prefer a softer surface, colorful carpet squares made from recycled materials that do not include toxic dyes, it’s a great alternatives at no cost to the environment.

Check out this New Age, “Eco-Friendly Skyscraper, Castle” , (Elephant and Castle Eco-Tower)Your home is your castle and the Earth its kingdom! You do not have to give up beautiful decor to be eco-friendly. Use the right products, make the right changes follow our tips to a stylish, maintainable castle. All while safeguarding Our Kingdom, Earth.

This means the companies must again pay deposits of 10 cents a bottle or can recycled through the Territory’s recycling system.

Kudos to the Northern Territory government during this ordeal – it kept the scheme going while it was in limbo. While it seems there are a few kinks in the program that will be re-implemented, these should be ironed out.

Coca Cola, Schweppes and Lions are of course pretty unhappy. Coca Cola says it will increase the price of its products – big deal, in fact that’s a good thing considering the types of products in question.

While the company may be worried about a loss of sales as a result; that may have already happened. Thanks to their efforts in attempting to bury the program for good; some folks (including me) now refuse to buy their beverages.

The Northern Territory will rejoin South Australia in container deposit recycling schemes in this country. South Australia’s program has been operating for thirty-six years and it’s rare to see bottles and cans lying around the place. Any that are tend to be picked up pretty quickly.

Big Soda’s battle against the scheme is probably more than just about the Northern Territory – I guess with the NT on board now, it makes it more likely a national scheme may be put in place at some point – and one should be.

I hate to think how many single use cans and bottles are cranked out each year and the volume that winds up in landfill or littered. By implementing container deposit schemes, far fewer do as it’s like throwing away money. As a result of South Australia’s program, recyclable containers going to landfill have been reduced to just 3%.

10 Easy Ways Your Office Can Go Green:

Whether you run a home-based business or a brick-and-mortar retail business, there are simple, easy things you can do to go green. Operating a green business is not only good for the environment but good for your business’s bottom line because conserving resources and cutting down on waste saves money.

Here are ten ideas for running a green business from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade’s Greening Operations Guide. Put them into place right now to make your business a more Eco- Friendly place.

1. Turn off equipment when it’s not being used. This can reduce the energy used by 25 percent; turning off the computers at the end of the day can save an additional 50 percent.

3. Reduce fax-related paper waste by using a fax-modem and by using a fax cover sheet only when necessary. Fax-modems allow documents to be sent directly from a computer, without requiring a printed hard copy.

4. Produce double-sided documents whenever possible.

5. Do not leave faucet dripping; always close them tightly after use. (One drop wasted per second wastes 10,000 liters per year.)

6. Install toilet dams in toilet reservoirs. Placing one or two plastic containers filled with stones(not bricks) in the toilet’s reservoir will displace about 4 liters of water per flush – a huge reduction of water use over the course of a year.

7. Find a supply of paper with maximum available recycled content.

8. Choose suppliers who take back packaging for reuse.

9. Search for “greener” products and services in your community. The further your supplies or service providers have to travel, the more energy will be used to get them to you.

10. See if your office furniture can be refinished. It’s less expensive than buying new and better for the environment. So before you decide to purchase new office furniture, try and refinish what you already have.

A Green Business Starts With Small Steps:

Environmentally friendly actions don’t have to be large to have an impact. Consistently reducing the amount of energy, water, and paper our businesses use can make a huge difference, both to the environment and to our pocketbooks. How much paper would you save over the course of a year, for instance, if you always ran double sided copies? A small easy way to go green -BUT A BIG RESULT!

Why Bother Properly Disposing of Paint? How to Dispose of Paint the Right Way?

How to Properly Dispose of Paint…The correct way of how to dispose of household paint hasn’t been widely advertised. Household paint can cause huge hazards. If simply left inside of a garbage dumpster or truck, there is a huge chance that the paint can leak onto the trash and eventually the roadway. Household paint is also very hard for landfills to dispose of. In actuality, it is the consumers responsibility to safely use leftovers or properly dispose.

Disposing of Paint To learn how to dispose of paint the right way without negative impacts on the environment, read below for some simple suggestions. (Click a section to jump to that spot on this page)

To properly dispose of latex paint, the container needs to be completely emptied. To safely do this, you can purchase paint hardenerto solidify the paint, or you can even use kitty litter, mulch or shredded paper from your paper shredder. Once the paint has dried, you can easily scoop the paint out. Dried latex paint can be disposed of in the rubbish. Metal paint cans can be disposed of as well, and recycled if empty. Consider using all of the paint before disposing of it, whether it be by touching up or adding an extra coat of paint to your wall. It’s easier, more practical, safer, and economical…not to mention you’ll be saving space, and yourself the trouble of having to dry the paint!

Paint hardenercan come in very handy when disposing of your paint is the only option. Hardening the paint will make it much safer to dispose, and will prevent any toxic spillage onto wildlife, soil, or your home.

Oil-Based Paint Important instructions to dispose of oil based paints

For disposal of oil-based paint, you should bring the paint to a local recycling station. You may want to call before visiting, since they all have different policies on what they do with oil based paint. Oil-based paint is either incinerated or recycled by actually using the paint, or repackaging the paint to give back to customers. All labels must be intact for disposal instructions. Read this to see the required techniques of disposal. Ultimately, it is best for the consumer to use the entire can of paint.

Low VOC Paint: Benjamin Moore’s Aura Line – A healthier alternative to regular high VOC paintWhat’s VOC? You can read all about the negative effects of VOC here. VOC are volatile organic compounds found in paint, plastics, and other man-made things. When painting your home, using a paint with low VOC is a great idea–it’s much healthier, and it’s a good selling point of your home.

Benjamin Moore’s Aura Line has been certified under the GREENGUARD Standard for Low Emitting Products and the GREENGUARD for Children & SchoolsSM product certification programs.

Hazards of Paint Why you should take extra care with your paint disposal

Using the Leftover paint, the best way to dispose of it. Very old paint may contain lead and mercury which should be disposed of correctly

You have plenty of leftover paint from your paint project? The first thing you should do is think of other things that may need to be painted. Maybe your garage interior could use a new coat, or your closets? How about an old piece of furniture down in the cellar? You could breathe new life into it with a quick coat of paint! How about the dog house or the tool shed? Since there is no easy way to dispose of paint, it is best to use it up. Here’s another idea: donations. Your local school, church, town office, or shelter may be able to use that paint. Ask friends, they may need a fresh coat of paint for something, and you could help!

Buy Just Enough! The best way to ensure you have absolutely no leftover paint! A good estimate of how much paint you will need is to measure the square footage of the area. Tape measure the entire area, and multiply the two lengths together to find the square footage. One gallon will roughly cover 400-450 square feet in one coat. By using this estimate, you can purchase paint based on how many coats and walls you need to cover. This should cut down on leftovers. Plan ahead, and have other things in mind to paint if you do have small amounts of leftovers.

Non-Toxic Paints /Paint that’s more earth friendly

Buying the right type of paint in the first place may have a number of benefits. For instance, painted walls may have low level emissions years after application. Paint fumes have been linked to headaches and migraines in some cases. Earth-friendly, low emission paints are now available. Not only is it better for humans, but it’s better for the outdoors as well! Check your local paint store to see what variety they may have. Larger stores like Home Depot and Lowe’s may not offer the organic variety, so you may want to call your local paint store first.

Remember to buy just enough,

use the most you can, donate leftovers, or

if absolutely necessary, bring the remainder of your oil-based paint to the recycling station.

October is synonymous with National Breast Cancer Awareness

We’ve discussed Pink washing here before (Pink-washing: A Growing Concern) and this time, chemist and industry expert, David Pollock, is releasing a warning regarding “pink washing” practices common in the beauty industry. The term “pink washing”refers to the sale of items that contain ingredients that are known carcinogens, whilemarketing these products in support of breast cancer awareness.

While these companies generally do indeed practice fundraising according to their marketing statements, they may actually be contributing to the development of this disease with the productitself.

7. TRIEHTANOLAMINE—often listed as TEA. Can react with other chemicals in cosmetics to form carcinogenic nitrosamines.

8.—a popular anti-microbial agent for hand washes and

9. PHTHALATES—a plasticizers used to make a number of cosmetic ingredients often found in lipsticks,nail polishes, fragrances and hair sprays

10. 1,4 DIOXANE—a contaminant formed as a byproduct during manufacturing of detergents, foaming agents, emulsifiers and solvents – what’s worse is that it is NOT required to be listed on the ingredient statement, but can be found in ingredients listed as PEG, Polyehtylene, Polyethylene Glycol, Polyoxyethylene or anything ending with “-eth” or in“-oxynol”

Additional information regarding David Pollock’s advice for “Safe Beauty “ can be found in his book …

Just Stop the Lies: Secrets the Beauty Industry Doesn’t Want You to Know

Clean and Chemical-Free

Want a clean home? Office? Environment period? Us too.Yet while typical household/office cleaners might cut the grease and get the grime out, chances are you’re also breathing in harsh chemicals including ammonia, bleach, petroleum distillates, and formaldehyde.

www.GreenNest.com(GreenNest, an online retail website specializing in green and organic home goods) Get recommendations for natural cleaners that are free from petrochemical volatile organic compounds (VOCs), such as products by Safe Choice, Naturally Yours and Green Nest.

www.buybullseye.com Bullseye International, selling Eco-friendly facility and janitorial supplies. Additionally, they provide products for the Armed Forces, Homeland Security, Department of Energy, corrections facilities, as well as a variety of other government agencies.(On target for all you janitorial and facility supply needs)

Window cleaner: one part distilled white or apple cider vinegar and one part water, mixed in a spray bottle. (Wiping the windows clean with recycled newspaper makes for a streak-free shine.)